I Vitelloni

Director: Federico Fellini

1953 / 109min / 35mm

One of the great “hang-out movies,” Fellini’s breakthrough work is a loosely autobiographical depiction of four overgrown adolescent layabouts killing time in their provincial Adriatic seaside hometown—obviously inspired by the director’s birthplace, Rimini—by chasing girls and fantasizing of futures that seem unlikely ever to come. Bittersweet but filled with compassion for its characters and a tender nostalgia for small-town ritual, Fellini’s first real critical and commercial success would provide crucial inspiration for Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, among many other films.